7.29.2016

One of my goals for the year has been to improve the quality of my food intake. I have made it several months being really good about hitting a decent caloric deficit every day, but since noticing an annoying plateau in my fitness goals, I thought I probably needed to step it up a little in the macros department (and the strength training department). Right this minute I am at Newport beach in California, so my current shakes have been a little more of the sugary ice-cream variety, but over the past few weeks, I've been trying an assortment of protein shakes and smoothies to improve my fruit/veggie/protein intake and give myself a good energy boost in the morning and before my high intensity workouts (which are usually on my lunch break). I thought I'd take a minute and share some of my favorites with you!

This shake is a staple. The ingredients are by far the easiest [banana, protein powder (I use vanilla), peanut butter, and some low fat milk] and it's one of the most delicious shakes I've tried. It's extremely high in calories (usually around 600-700 with two bananas), so I try to save this one for days I know I'm going to be doing a much more intense workout (or dancing for 3 hours).

This berry-packed shake is light and refreshing (and if I don't finish the whole thing in the morning, I sometimes add a little gin or vodka to it in the evening for a light fruity cocktail). I'm sure there are a million ways to make this, but I generally prefer a combination of strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, a plum, and maybe a banana if the berries/plum combo turns out to be a little more tart than I'd hoped. Adding a scoop of protein powder and some milk to this shake usually caps it out around 400-450 calories, making a good breakfast substitute on a low-intensity exercise day.

I am absolutely a minimalist, and I am rather obstinate about not buying things I plan to only use once or twice, so looking for a green smoothie mix was a challenge. Many recipes had their complicated assortment of ingredients by which to mask the taste of a bunch of bitter vegetables, and I just didn't feel like investing in Goji berries, chia seeds, coconut flakes, or whatever else. Knowing that banana is basically the all-masking smoothie flavor, I decided to go for a simple kale, spinach, and banana recipe for my green smoothie and topped it off with some milk, cinnamon, and vanilla protein powder.

Do you have any shake recipes you really like? How are you getting your protein for the day in?